Sanwo-Olu Drives Mandatory Insurance, Digital Health Records, and Free Emergency Care across Lagos

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has unveiled a comprehensive roadmap to achieve universal health coverage, declaring that his administration is shifting away from temporary healthcare projects to build lasting medical institutions for all residents.

Speaking at the opening of the second Eko Health Convention held at the Oriental Hotel in Victoria Island, the governor emphasized that mandatory health insurance, integrated digital records, expanded medical infrastructure, and stronger regulation will drive the next phase of healthcare delivery across the state.

Sanwo-Olu emphasized that access without excellence is simply a long queue where drugs run out, while excellence without access remains another failure. He noted that Lagos is determined to avoid both pitfalls by building a healthcare system that provides quality care that is both reachable and worth reaching.

A central pillar of the strategy is the enforcement of mandatory social health insurance under the state’s Ilera Eko scheme. Over 1.5 million Lagosians have registered under the health insurance program, with women representing more than half of all enrolled beneficiaries. The governor noted that relying on out-of-pocket payments at the point of illness is unsustainable, explaining that pooling funds through mandatory coverage ensures the healthy and the sick support one another.

Addressing critical care services, Sanwo-Olu highlighted the impact of the LASHMA Assistance in Distress (LAD) program, an emergency intervention launched to ensure critical patients are stabilized immediately regardless of their financial status. He stated that in an emergency, every resident should be stabilized first and asked about payment afterwards, revealing that the program has already saved 18 lives involving road crashes, surgical crises, and strokes.

On digital innovation, the state unveiled the Smart Health Information Platform (SHIP), which links patient records across primary health centers, general hospitals, and tertiary teaching hospitals. The platform incorporates artificial intelligence, data analytics, and electronic medical records to speed up diagnoses and disease monitoring. Sanwo-Olu assured residents that patient data privacy would remain strictly protected under robust cybersecurity measures.

To address the severe brain drain and personnel deficit in the health sector, Sanwo-Olu acknowledged that Lagos currently has fewer than 8,000 active doctors against an estimated requirement of 40,000. To bridge this shortfall, the state government is improving health worker welfare while accelerating the setup of a dedicated Lagos State University of Medicine and Health Sciences to train thousands of doctors, nurses, and allied specialists.